~ Finding Happiness Through Fitness, Food, and Fun

Category Archives: holidays

I have been enjoying it immensely, and I am sad it is over. I have balanced productivity with laziness and fun pretty well this weekend. With a lot of help from bb, the computer wiz, I am self hosted now! Look for the official change in the next day or two. What this means for you is a small address change, but all for the sake of making a better blog. I can’t wait until it is finished!

In other news, my productivity has been challenged this weekend with the addition of the four seasons on Felicity streaming on Netflix.

It is a beautiful morning in NYC! It is suppose to be almost 80 degrees today. A nice welcome back. I got back to NYC last night. I am spending my morning back catching up on some bills/emails/and computer work at, Think Coffee, my favorite coffee place in city!

Mountain of Oatmeal and Strong Coffee

I had a hell of a day yesterday. I woke up with the worst stomach bug I have had in a while. I blame all the jelly beans. After 5 hours of being sick, I had to pack and get ready for my flight! I was praying I would not throw up the entire time. I also got to the airport and to security with only 10 min to spare until my boarding time. The TSA people decided they needed to unpack my entire suitcase! Aaaahhh! I normally breeze through security, but they were being extra harsh – throwing again things I always fly with. Having only 2 pieces of toast the whole day, I was shaking and flustered trying to pack everything back up and get to the gate. My mom is a super packer and was able to fit in all my easter loot, plus all the stuff we got at Target and Wegman’s for me to take back to NYC. Now, I had to figure out how she put it all in there. But in the end, I made it, got to sit next to my cousin on the plane, and did not get sick. PHEW!

So Monday was crazy, but Easter weekend was wonderful!! On the agenda was learning to make a Middle Eastern Feast, including stuffed grape leaves and squash, visiting my two best friends, and my mom’s birthday is Easter Sunday this year. My Mom’s boyfriend is Arabic, and she just spent a week with his family, where they taught her how to cook. I was extremely jealous, plus they live in Southern California. In the interest of time, and keeping this from being the longest post ever ,I will post the Middle Eastern Feast tutorial in a separately this evening. Hope that is okay with you guys!

As my mom and I were exchanging baskets/gifts Sunday morning this little guy hopped past the window.

Easter Bunny!

I ran around trying to find my camera and yelling “Look a bunny and it’s Easter!” for like 5 minutes. I’m surprised he stayed put for that long.

I made my mom a necklace at Brooklyn Charm for her birthday. I forgot to get a picture! But it was super cute. I might go make another one for myself. She still makes me an Easter basket, and she also gave my birthday gifts. My birthday is not until May 12th, but I won’t be home for it.

Stationary and cute sunflower things to decorate my desk at work, some peeps (of course!), an eye mask, and there is a bag of flax meal hiding in the back

Beautiful earrings from the Venetian in Las Vegas

Globe Candle from San Diego Company

Candle when lit

We spent the rest of the morning in our PJ’s watching movies and eating jelly beans.

I always cook holiday meals and the menu for this year was Asparagus Barley Risotto, Arugula and Strawberry Salad, and Key Lime Pie, my mom’s favorite for her birthday. It is more Spring themed, than Easter, and it is all vegan. Since last summer my brother is vegan so the whole meal is vegan. My first entire vegan holiday meal was Christmas, and everything came out so well, I had expectations to live up to this year. Eeeep!

My Mom and Ernie at Dinner

Risotto and Salad

Vegan Key Lime Pie w/ Soy Whipped Cream

We finished off the night with hours of Mexican Train dominoes.

This game takes forever!

It was good to be home in Syracuse. It was a relaxing and really fun weekend. I cried when I had to leave. Bawled really, while standing at the airport. I’m tearing up a bit now. It is really hard leaving home. I think last year, I only went home twice. So every time I leave I do not know when I will see everyone again. I miss my friends and family. I miss my dogs. Life is just always a little easier when I’m there. It is just so difficult to find the time and the money to make the trip. But I also cry when I leave the city too. I guess I’m just always crying. But Every single time, I come back to the city and see that amazing skyline, it always makes me smile and think “welcome home.” I have a life in the city and a routine. So I do love it here. I am just torn between two homes. Sigh…

It’s been so long! Been busy, busy, busy packing in traveling, family time, friends time, and getting to all my favorite Syracuse locations. Today’s post is a Friday Flash back – I’m flashing back to Friday and sharing my first evening during my Syracuse vacation. I left NYC on Friday at noon. I am a huuuge packing procrastinator and in the morning had to pack in spinning, laundry, packing, and breakfast with Bryan before I left. I did it all, and got to the Megabus stop with 15 minutes to spare. Phew! I hate taking the bus, but after that hectic morning I was okay with just sitting for a while. I had tons of magazines and RadioLab podcasts to keep me busy for 4.5 hours. Anything longer that though, and I would go crazy!

Syracuse University Dome

Welcome to Syracuse, NY. It is cold and cloudy, and still looks like winter at the end of April. Sigh….But it is still good to be back for a few days.

When I got in, I was hungry! My brother and I headed to his favorite vegetarian/vegan cafe, Strong Hearts. Friday night is pizza night there! We order The Gentleman Jim – caramelized onions, sauteed shallots, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers. All pizzas come with vegan crust, unsure what it is made with, and daiya cheese. I am not a fan of the vegan cheese, but the veggies were so good it was worth it.

Strong Heart's Pizza in Syracuse, NY

Then we headed to mine and Bryan’s favorite spot in Syracuse. Although Bryan was not with me this weekend, I still had to hit up Roji Tea Lounge! During our freshman year in college, I think Bryan and I went there at least twice a week. The menu has loose leaf tea’s from all around the world brewed at their ideal conditions. And they have tons a desserts and Japanese treats. Our favorite is the green tea cake with the aduzki beans. We have never had green tea cake anywhere else that compares to Roji. In addition to their normal menu items they also have a special tea cookie each day. The whole way there I was repeating “please have my lavender cookies, please!”

Special Board at Roji

Hot Damn! Lavender cookies! What luck. So I got an order of those along with the Cherry Blossom green tea, which is only available for a couple weeks in Spring – just like the flowers. I was so excited. NYC has tea lounges, but I have not been able to find any place that compares to the quality of Roji or has some of the menu items they have. Love….

Tea and Cookies

One of the many sofa's at Roji

My brother, Matt, and his Coconut Envy Tea

I was exhausted and head to bed pretty early when we got home. But not before visiting with my puppies and my mom!

Max!

Meet Max! He is the most lovable, sweetest black Pomeranian. I will have to try and get my mom in a picture this weekend.

I am a bad blogger. It has been a full week since my first post. I left on vacation (I know poor me), and my computer access was more limited than I expected. Should be no excuse though. I’m learning.

First on today’s list, it is St. Patrick’s Day. This is one of my favorite day’s just because it is so easy, but fun to celebrate. Also, I am Irish (see red hair, pale skin, and freckles), and green is my favorite color – Perfect! So I naturally wore green – no one else in my lab did. I also had on a subtle green eye shadow. Must remember to take picture next time. Again, i’m learning 1) always blog 2) always have camera handy.

And in honor of the holiday, I ate all green foods today. Starting with my first green monster smoothie, and to I ate it in bowl a la of my blog inspirations, Kath.

I will definitely be adding my own touches and experimenting with recipes to write about. I like smoothies in a bowl so much more. I did not think it was possible. But the bowl and a little spoon makes the deliciousness last just that much longer. That is how I enjoy all my favorite foods, especially ice cream, slowly with little spoons. Today was also the green monster smoothie for my boyfriend too. He was a little apprehensive, as he always is when confronted with something new and healthy. He actually smelled it first. I tried to get a picture of it, but he was not having that at 7 am. That is incredibly early for him. I am sure you will hear more about that in time. Back to the smoothie, it was just like most everything else I present him, once he tried it he liked it! Of course.

My First Green Monster(makes 2):

-1 cup Skim Milk

– 2 handfuls baby spinach

I live in very, very small quarters, so no blender for me. Sadface, I know. I put them in a large bowl and used an immersion blender to first puree the spinach. Then I added:

– 1 sliced banana

– 1/2 cup rolled oats

– one large spoonful nonfat plain greek yogurt

– 2 handfuls of blueberries

-1 tsp golden flaxseeds

Mixed again with the immersion blender, which thankfully works fine it just takes a few minutes and some stirring to make sure you have pureed everything. And finally, topped with some BearNaked Fit Vanilla Almond Crunch granola. I like this because it is pretty low in sugar, only 4g per serving, and bearly processed.

I do not have picture for the rest of the days meals – bad blogger again, I know. I will improve! But the rest of my green filled day included, a granny smith apple, a big salad with as many green veggies as I could find (and some non green ones too), and the medical center offered a free St. Patrick’s day dinner of corned beef and cabbage. My mom used to make this one St. Patricks day. Now, my diet is mainly clean nowadays, but I do make exceptions for special occasions, when I am over someone’s home, or the food is FREE! With that said, I did not eat the corned beef. I would have, its not too bad, baked beef brisket. But this was very leathery. If I’m going to eat something it has to bee worth it. So I opted for a huge plate of boiled cabbage and carrots, 2 pieces of potato, and half a piece of irish soda bread, complete with raisins!

Snacked on more carrots when I got home from work( not green). A great cup of my new tea. Its tiramisu red tea from Teavana. I picked it up on vacation. More on the vacay in future posts. So much good stuff to blog about from the weekend. Now it is time to go hunt down the bf and get ready for bed. Its going to be 67 in NYC tomorrow. I am definitely running outside tomorrow morning!

But before I go – a little research.

I mentioned enjoying my smoothie this morning nice and slow. And whenever you look up dieting tips you are sure to come across one telling you to slow down when you eat, because it takes roughly 20 minutes to feel full. But why? What is going on in that 20 minutes. Well, a lot of chemical cross talk. There are 12 cranial nerves, one of those is the vagus nerve, which connects the abdomen and the brain. As the stomach gets full and stretches there are cleverly named stretch receptors that utilized the vagus nerve signaling to the brain that you are getting to your limit. There are also hormones released from the small intestine once partially digested food reaches it (ewww). The idea is that if you eat too much, too fast you are not allowing the proper amount of time for these chemical signals to do their job until it is too late. Why is this important? I found out that many people suffering from obesity have also become leptin resistant. Leptin is one of those hormones in the small intestine that signal fullness. And as a result of the resistance, the body is not as responsive to fullness or pleasure from food. With that in mind – sloooow down. Not only will you enjoy your meal more, but you will also give your body a chance to do what it does to the best of it’s ability.

So Long!

Welcome!

Hi! I am Ashley. A life long food enthusiast, but with a newly developed healthy attitude. This blog is a place for discussion about healthy living, as well as a resource for the science behind healthy choices. Freckles & Spice is my commitment to stay on the path towards healthy and active lifestyle and to rediscover myself, all while balancing the fast paced, hectic life of a professional twenty-something living in the city. Thanks for stopping by!

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